As an amateur historian of this sad century whose time is almost up,
I would like to reflect upon six lessons I have learned in my studies. Folks who
wish to live free and prosperous in the next century would do well to understand the
failures of the past.

LESSON NO. 1: If a bureaucrat, or a soldier sent by a
bureaucrat, comes to knock down your door and take you someplace you do not want to
because of who you are or what you think -- kill him. If you can, kill the
politician who sent him. You will likely die anyway, and you will be saving someone
else the same fate. For it is a universal truth that the intended victims always far
outnumber the tyrant's executioners. Any nation which practices this lesson will
quickly run out of executioners and tyrants, or they will run out of it.

LESSON NO. 2: If a bureaucrat, or a soldier sent by a
bureaucrat, comes to knock down your door and confiscate your firearms -- kill him.
The disarmament of law-abiding citizens is the required precursor to genocide.

LESSON NO. 3: If a bureaucrat tells you that he must know if you
have a firearm so he can put your name on a list for the common good, or wants to issue
you an identity card so that you be more easily identified -- tell him to go to hell.
Registration of people and firearms is the required precursor to the tyranny which
permits genocide. Bureaucrats cannot send soldiers to doors that are not on their
list.

LESSON NO. 4: Believe actions, not words. Tyrants are
consummate liars, just because a tyrant is "democratically elected" does not
mean he believes in democracy. Reference Adolf Hitler, 1932.

And just because a would-be tyrant mouths words of reverence to law and justice, or
takes a solemn oath to uphold a constitution, does not mean be believes such concepts
apply to him. Reference Bill Clinton, among others.

The language of the lie is just another tool of killers. A sign saying
"Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Make You Free) posted above an execution camp gate
does not mean that anybody gets out of there alive, and a room labeled "Showers"
does not necessarily make you clean. Bill Clinton notwithstanding, the of
"is" is plain when such perverted language gets you killed. While all
tyrants are liars, it is true that not all politcal liars are would-be tyrants -- but they
bear close watching. And keep your rifle handy.

LESSON NO. 5: Our constitutional republic as crafted by the
Founders is the worst form of government in the world, except when compared to all the
others. Capitalism, as well, is a terrible way to run an economy, except when
compared to all other economic systems. Unrestrained democracy is best expressed as
three wolves and a sheep sitting down to vote on what to have for dinner. The
horrors of collectivism in all its forms -- socialism, communism, national socialism,
fascism -- have been demonstrated beyond dispute by considerable wasteful trial and bloody
error. Leaders such as Bill Clinton who view the Constitution and inconvenient and
ignorable are harbingers of tyranny.

LESSON NO. 6: While nations do not always get the leaders they
deserve, they always get the leaders they tolerate. And anyone who tells you that
"It Can't Happen Here" is whistling past the graveyard of history. There
is no "house rule" that bars tyranny coming to America. History is replete
with republics whose people grew complacent and descended into imperial butchery and
chaos. Dictators count on the assistance of people who are complacent, fearful,
envious, lazy and corrupt. While there is no "Collective guilt" to the
crimes of a regime (all such crimes being committed by specific criminal individuals),
there is certainly "collective responsibility" -- especially for
those who watch the criminals at work without objecting or interfering.

A French journalist of the last century wrote: "I must speak out for I will
not be an accomplice." Evil tyrants require, indeed they depend upon, willing
and unwilling accomplices -- good people who would never think of harming a soul
themselves. Lenin called such people "useful idiots."

De Tocqueville observed that "America is great because America is good. When
America ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." As related in the Old
Testament, God judged nations based upon the immorality and criminality of their leaders.
Entire peoples were scourged because of their failure to remove corrupt leaders.
As we move from the Twentieth Century into the Twenty-First, we should take care to
remember the ancient story of Sodom and Gommorrah. If we wish to avoid the butchery
of the Twentieth Century and the righteous judgment of the Good of our antiquity, we would
do well to keep our Bibles, our Constitution and our firearms close at hand.

This article was reprinted from The Hawaiian Rifleman,
January, 2000 issue.